Wednesday's podcasts stories
Parsing what we do and don’t know about Omicron
The first case of Omicron variant COVID-19 has been detected in the U.S. just one week after the variant was first reported to the World Health Organization. Concern about the variant has led to global action including travel restrictions, but there are still a lot of unknowns, like whether it causes more severe illness or evades the protections afforded by vaccination.
Axios Re:Cap host Erica Pandey examines what we know, what we don’t know and what to expect in the coming weeks with former CDC acting director and president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Richard Besser.
The new travel bans
The World Health Organization yesterday advised people 60 or older to postpone any travel because of the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron. The new strain was first identified in South Africa and may have originated there or Botswana, which has led to many countries — including the U.S. — banning travelers from that part of the world.
- Plus, what Congress has to do this month.
- And, ER doctors’ role in prescribing drugs to prevent opioid overdoses.
Guests: Axios' Bryan Walsh and Alayna Treene; Dr. Keith Kocher, emergency physician at University of Michigan Health in Ann Arbor.
Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Dan Bobkoff, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Alex Sugiura, Sabeena Singhani, Lydia McMullen-Laird, Michael Hanf, and David Toledo. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.
Go Deeper:
- WHO advises people 60 or older to postpone travel due to Omicron
- Omicron variant in the Netherlands before being discovered in South Africa
- Congress sprints to meet crush of deadlines
- Naloxone and Buprenorphine Prescribing Following US Emergency Department Visits for Suspected Opioid Overdose: August 2019 to April 2021
Airbnb’s problematic Xinjiang rentals
An Axios investigation found that Airbnb has over a dozen properties listed for rent in China's Xinjiang region on land owned by a paramilitary group that has been sanctioned by the U.S. government for complicity in genocide.
Axios China author Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian joins host Erica Pandey to discuss how these listings expose Airbnb to regulatory risk under U.S. law and raise important questions about how U.S. companies operate abroad, especially in China.
An investigation into Airbnb rentals in China
Axios' Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian has found that Airbnb has more than a dozen homes available for rent in China's Xinjiang region, on land owned by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, an organization sanctioned by the U.S. for complicity in the genocide and forced labor of the minority-Muslim Uyghur population.
- Plus, the new lure of "buy now, pay later" online.
- And, on this Giving Tuesday — how the CEO and co-founder of CAVA views philanthropy.
Guests: Axios' Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian and Erica Pandey; and CAVA CEO Brett Shulman.
Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Julia Redpath, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Alex Sugiura, Sabeena Singhani, David Toledo and Jayk Cherry. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.
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